Whelming Force's page

Party is not quite all level 9, with
- an optimized Brawler (Powergamer's PC, massive AC)
- An Oracle caster ("Blind" Oracle's curse, yet plays ranged. Moderate power)
- An un-optimized Magus who rarely has his highest-level spells ready
- A third-party Divine/Arcane caster with limited spell levels but many slots,
- A new Inquisitor, played by a stereotypical Barbarian
- A cautious Fighter balanced between Melee and Defense, able to do archery
- 7th PC shows up with a Fighter occasionally, but pays little attention and just "runs up and hits."
- The GMPC Rogue/H.Opportunist (built for situational adaptation and theft/lying, not combat.)

Essentially we have a lot of melee with a powerful, hard-to-hit melee bruiser and a full-Oracle caster, but the rest of the party is more varied than optimized.

- 29-point buy (matches PCs)
- Undead immunities.
- Has Lifesense 60'
- d8 HD, unless superseded by base creature/class.
- Heals from Positive Energy, takes only 1/2 Negative Energy damage
- Soul resides in the weapon, not in the humanoid host. Body is immune to mind-effecting affects and fights until negative Con without being Dazed.
- Weapon is immune to magic that does not also target objects or is harmless.
- Can possess a new host body if the old one dies, but this isn't likely to work vs. the PCs directly as they'd suspect it.
- Is weak vs. Hallow, needing to pass a DC 25 Will save to enter/remain inside, and the body it possesses gets saving throws after 2d6 rounds.
- Has an aura that makes opponents Fatigued if they come within ?~feet. Save is Fortitude, and a save means you're immune for a day. Fatigue lasts for 1d6 +1 minutes after leaving the aura, and resets without a save if you re-enter the aura before the effect ends. Save DC matches the weapon's DC below

.Currently has no DR/good, but I'd say that option fits thematically.

- Weapon applies the following effect each* time it hits.
.This should probably have a cap placed on it if it's being powerbuilt.
.Or if it only works once or twice per round per target, we could increase the damage to d4xeffect:

- Roll 1d4. If the target does not save, apply the following effect:
1 = 1 point of Strength damage, and the Soulless gains +1 CMB, attack, and damage.
2 = 1 point of Dexterity damage, and the Soulless gains +1 dodge AC and CMD.
3 = 1 point of Constitution damage, and the Soulless regains (1/2xtarget’s HD) HP and gains any excess as temp HP.
4 = 1 temporary negative level, and the Soulless gains all of the above bonuses.

- The bonuses received by the Soulless stack up to a total of +5 for each ability score and +(2x its HD) temporary hit points. The Soulless burns through the captured life force quickly, losing 2 from all of these values every hour.
- Crits turn the effect into Drain rather than Damage.
- Save DC = (10+Cha+1/2HD). This value is reduced by 2 in an area of Hallow, stacking with Hallow's bonus to saves.

.A 2-Handed weapon would give more damage to the build, but a Keen Scimitar gets more crits. I also haven't thought about what magic might be on the blade, but it should probably have an enhancement bonus appropriate for its level (so like a +3 ATK/DMG right now.)

- If the Soulless NPC kills a soul-possessing creature with its weapon, it creates a spawn in 1d6 minutes. These spawn are under its control, but are far weaker and die quickly.
-They die soon after sunrise each day.

.Currently I'm planning on using a Cairn Wight or Wraith as the base idea for the spawn, essentially a vitality-draining zombie horde. Depending on the level of the party, I might boost the CR of the horde. The minions should probably stay about 3 CR below the PC's levels though.

.I also think there's a bloody weapon (unique or an artifact) that also creates bloody zombies on kill, I might have to look for that as well.

GHASTLY SENTINEL CR 4
XP 1,200
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CE Medium undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10
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DEFENSE
AC 1, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 28 (3d8+15)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +7
Defensive Abilities: channel resistance +4, Undead traits
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OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d6+3 plus disease and paralysis) and 2 claws +6 (1d6+3 plus paralysis), or Scythe +6 (2d4+3 20/x4 P or S)
Special Attacks: paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 15, affects elves normally)
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TACTICS
Before Combat: Ghastly sentinels will stalk a group of targets waiting for an opportune moment. Foggy weather, a lone PC,
and they stealth as close as possible before silently attacking.

During Combat: Ghastly sentinels prioritize lone targets whenever possible, preferring to make as many quiet kills as possible
before they are discovered. They then move across the battlefield in pairs or triplets and choose their targets intelligently.
They flank whenever possible and make natural attacks until a target is immobilized, at which point one of the ghastly sentinels
provides cover while the others perform coup de graces.
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STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 18, Con —, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 21
BAB +2; CMB +6; CMD 20
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +7, Bluff + 8 Climb +9, Escape Artist +7, Perception +10, Profession (Spy) +10,
Stealth +10 (12 while motionless), Swim +6 Racial Modifiers Stealth +2 while motionless.
Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, Orc
SQ Freeze, Spy
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SPECIAL ABILITIES

Disease (Su)
Ghoul Fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 15; onset 1 day; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex damage;
cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.

A humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. A humanoid who becomes a ghoul in this way retains
none of the abilities it possessed in life. It is not under the control of any other ghouls, but it hungers for the flesh of the
living and behaves like a normal ghoul in all respects. A humanoid of 4 Hit Dice or more rises as a ghast.
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Freeze (Ex)
A ghastly sentinel can hold itself so still it appears to be a scarecrow. A ghastly sentinel that uses freeze can take 20
on its Stealth check to hide in plain sight as a scarecrow.
A ghastly sentinel can remain motionless even when it is attacked or takes damage
by making a DC 20 Stealth check, but it cannot take 20 on this check.
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Paralysis (Su)
Creatures damaged by a ghast's natural attacks must make a successful DC 15 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds.
Paralyzed creatures cannot move, speak, or take any physical actions. The creature is rooted to the spot, frozen and helpless.
Unlike ghouls, A ghast's paralysis even affects elves.

Unlike hold person and similar effects, a paralysis effect does not allow a new save each round. A winged creature flying in the air
at the time that it is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown.
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Scout (Ex)
A ghastly sentinel is well-versed in military organization and strategy, and treats profession (Spy) as a class skill. Additionally,
ghastly sentinels leave no tracks while in non-urban or underground environments as if it had the ranger’s Pass Without Trace ability.
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Ecology
Environment: Any non-urban exterior
Organization: Pair, Trio, or Reaping (6-8)
Treasure: minor
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Ghastly sentinels were first created by a necromancer hundreds of years ago as a means to control the villages he ruled. They would
report to him on anything that went on near a village, and when someone did something that displeased him the necromancer took
great pleasure in ordering his nightmarish creatures to paralyze the villager and his family in their sleep before eating them
alive. When the necromancer was slain for his evil ways, his creations escaped and found their way into other armies of undead
where they put their talents at espionage to good use by spying on armies and assassinating lone officers.

Ghastly sentinels never hunt alone. They prefer to hunt in pairs or trios so that when one ghastly sentinel paralyzes a creature
the other can perform a coup de grâce to instantly kill it. If unable to hunt with another of its kind, a ghastly sentinel will
ally itself with another creature whenever it hunts, usually something that can distract an enemy or protect the ghastly sentinel
until it can get in close and paralyze its prey. Like all ghasts, a ghastly sentinel prefers still-living food.
The last target of their hunts is thus the unluckiest.

Ghastly sentinels utilize flanking whenever possible and are unafraid of death in combat. While under orders to gather information
and pretending to be scarecrows, a ghastly sentinel is willing to die rather than reveal itself if necessary.
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Variants (+1 CR)
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Some ghastly sentinels were designed for brutal assassinations over espionage.
They gain the stench ability as a way to reduce an enemy's resistance and accuracy.

Stench (Ex)
Ghast's exude an overwhelming stink of death and corruption in a 10-foot radius. Those within the stench must succeed at a DC 15
Fortitude save, or be sickened for 1d6+4 minutes. If a creature is within range of multiple ghastly sentinel Stench auras, the DC
for this save is increased by 2 for each additional Stench affect it is subject to.

A ghastly sentinel can suppress this ability for 1 round as a standard action, but the lingering
foulness clings to its disguise and gives it a -5 penalty on its Stealth checks to appear as a scarecrow.
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Trollbodied
Some ghastly sentinels were created from long-limbed trolls and are
often used with heavily-armored allies to guard narrow passageways.

These ghastly sentinels gain a reach of 10’ with their claw
and weapon attacks and gain fast healing 3/fire or acid.

Coup de grace takes a full-round action, provokes an attack of opportunity, and deals an automatic critical hit to a helpless target.
If the target survives the attack, they must make a Fortitude save equal to 10+damage dealt or else die instantly.
The DC for a scythe-wielding Ghastly Sentinel's coup de grace is 10+44.

Like it says on the Ghast page, these creatures are more powerful than their CR would suggest. 4 of these things (a CR 6 encounter) might threaten a party wipe against a group of five level 7 PCs.

THESSALRAT CR 5
XP 1,600
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CE Tiny Abberant
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +4
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DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 16 (3d8+3)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +3 (+1 per two living clones)
Defensive Abilities Phase Jump, Divided Self
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OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., climb 15 ft., swim 15 ft.
Melee 8 serpentine bites +3 (1 damage), bite +5 (1d6-3 plus 1d6 acid)
Special Attacks Disease (DC 11)
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TACTICS
During Combat: A thessalrat attempts to appear as a regular rat until it desires to feed, at which point it begins to spawn clones of
itself until it reaches 8 clones. Once these clones are created, a random clone will attempt to flee while the others stay and
fight. If the fleeing thessalrat is pursued, it uses Phase Jump to attempt to lose its pursuer and will use its last remaining
clone as a decoy if it ever becomes hidden. If the fleeing thessalrat is killed, 2 other thessalrats break from the action and attempt
to flee. If those are slain, all remaining rats scatter and flee in all directions.

If the escaping thessalrat is not pursued and escapes safely, it will either spawn a ninth thessalrat in combat or use Phase Jump
to attack an opportune target. A thessalrat never uses its tenth clone except as a means to escape.

In combat, 2-6 thessalrats swarm a nearby target, prioritizing the prone and injured. They dislike attacking unless
there is or will be at least one other thessalrat within 10’ of the target.

Morale: A Thessalrat flees only if the fleeing copy was killed or captured,
and in such a case flees when there are 4 or fewer copies remaining.
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STATISTICS
Str 2, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 4
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 8
Feats Combat Reflexes*, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Maw)
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+6 jump), Climb +10, Disguise +12 (normal rat only), Stealth +19,
Swim +10, Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +4 Stealth, uses Dex for Climb and Swim.
Languages None
SQ Arcane Mitosis, Hydra Traits, Maw
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Arcane Mitosis (Su)
A thessalrat can create clones of itself at the beginning of its turn as a free action, but no more than 4 total per round.
Each duplicate appears in the same square as any other rat and can take a move or standard action the round it appears. A clone is
created with 1/4 of the cloning rat's current hp (minimum 1). A thessalrat may not create more than 10 clones of itself
within an 8-hour period.

Each thessalrat clone is a full share of the whole, and so there is no “original” thessalrat – if a single thessalrat survives
an encounter, the creature is not destroyed. 10 minutes after the thessalrat first started to clone itself, all but one of
the clones dies and turns to ash. It is the thessalrat’s choice which clone survives.
Any effect that would block a supernatural ability prevents new clones from appearing, but does not destroy any current copies.
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Disease
Degenerate cloning—injury; save Fort DC 11; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Str damage, 1d3 Con damage and the victim
becomes shaken for 1 hour (Will DC 11); cure 2 consecutive saves.

A creature suffering from degenerate cloning sloughs off an identical-but-decaying body of itself each morning along with a little
of their own vitality. A clone created this way dissolves into a soupy mess within 2d6 hours and cannot be preserved by any means
short of stopping time.
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Divided Self (Ex)
All Thessalrat clones share a divided hive mind. They are thus aware of each other at all times and can share senses equally. Thus,
a deafened thessalrat would takes only half the listed penalty as long as there is a non-deafened clone nearby, and can pinpoint an
enemy’s square even if blinded. A thessalrat also gains a +1 to its will saving throw for every 2 clones currently alive.
There is no distance limit to this effect.

If a thessalrat has clones located on more than one dimension at the start of its turn,
all clones in the dimension with the lesser amount of clones die instantly.
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Hydra Traits (Ex)
Though a thessalmonster cannot be killed by severing all of its serpentine heads, doing so prevents them from attacking and
can assist in slaying its body. Any attack that is not an attempt to sever a head affects the body, including area attacks or
attacks that cause piercing or bludgeoning damage. To sever a head, an opponent must make a sunder attempt with a
slashing weapon targeting a head.

A head is considered a separate weapon with hardness 0 and hit points equal to the thessalmonster’s HD. To sever a head, an
opponent must inflict enough damage to reduce the head’s hit points to 0 or less. Severing a head deals damage to the
thessalmonster’s body equal to the thessalmonsters’s current HD. A thessalmonster can’t attack with a severed head,
but takes no other penalties.

A thessalmonster’s severed head regrows in 1d4 weeks.

A thessalmonster’s Combat Reflexes allow it to opportunity attack with each of its serpentine heads.
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Maw (Ex)
A Thessalrat’s main mouth opens far wider and further back than it should,
allowing it to deal bite damage as if it were a Large creature.
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Phase Jump (Sp)
Instead of creating a clone, a Thessalrat can teleport 100’ as a standard action in a fashion similar to Dimension Door.
Doing so counts as the Thessalrat creating a single clone. A single clone can do this no more than once per day.
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Ecology
Environment Any temperate
Organization Solitary, Pair, or Plague (6-12)
Treasure none
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The Thessalrat is a creature born out of arcane military experimentation, successfully crossing a Doppelrat with a
Thessalhydra despite expectations. The resulting monster was so deadly once unleashed in the now-forgotten war that both sides
called a temporary truce in order to exterminate the pest before it had a chance to reproduce and decimate the entire continent.
While the creation of more Thessalrats is now considered a war crime against humanity, some of the less-scrupulous mages
occasionally create a sterile version as a deceptive trap to guard valuable items.

A regular Thessalrat in its passive form appears almost identical to a regular rat, save being a bit heavier around the shoulders
and being bit on the larger size. Once roused to action, however, a Thessalrat abandons this disguise and the fur on its
shoulders parts to reveal a swarm of smaller rat heads on darting necks. The central head splits open all the way back to
the chest while acid drips off its fangs.

Thessalrats are unusually cunning and cruel when it comes to stalking their prey, but relatively unintelligent otherwise.
Not content only killing enough prey to feed it for a single meal, a Thessalrat enjoys causing mass panic among a population
of intelligent creatures by slaughtering as many of them as it can in a single attack and feeds off the remains the next day.
Its ability to select which clone lives at the end of the division means that it can attack with reckless abandon without
fear of its own death, and is able to harry an adventuring group or army for days on end until eventually the entire group
succumbs to attrition. The Thessalrat uses its disguise as a regular rat to hide amongst the regular vermin found everywhere,
and its small size allows it to crawl through the narrowest cracks and rat warrens. It is alert and cautious for traps while
unduplicated, and will remain just outside a town or army camp during any attempted rat eradication.
A Thessalrat never jeopardizes its existence by having all of its clones in danger at the same time, and will always attempt
to split at least one off from a fight and hide it somewhere without exception.

The Thessalrat has two weaknesses, minor though they are – Normal rats refuse to go within 15 feet of a Thessalrat providing a
hint for the perceptive, and the 10-minute time limit on the duration of its clones can be exploited to kill the creature while
it is weak if someone is able to track every single copy during an attack.